I have been pretty good about planning meals a week at a time recently, which has gone well so far. Sometimes though, I forget about a meeting or get together and either don’t have time to make dinner or we are going to be eating at our meeting. The night I had planned to make this meal (which sounded delicious), I forgot that our Alumni Association had a Happy Hour and I had a meeting to go to at 6:30. The husband wanted to go to Happy Hour so when I got home from work I immediately started cooking so that at least I could eat before leaving and he could eat the leftovers.

This meal actually worked out really well for us eating at separate times. I was able to put the whole meal together for myself and then keep the components refrigerated until the husband got home and he could assemble them all then. Basically I cooked the orzo, the cream sauce, and the chicken all separately and then assembled. For the husband I covered the chicken on a plate, put the orzo in tupperware, and the sauce in a separate tupperware. That way nothing got soggy and he could use as much or as little sauce as he wanted.

As always with orzo, my eyes are bigger than my stomach. But it was good – creamy, comforting, and faster than I thought. The husband enjoyed it too, eating everything that was leftover before I got home. I was so glad it was such a success.

Italian Chicken Over Orzo with Lemon Thyme Cream Sauce

Recipe #: 87

Saved Since: May 2010

Recipe Count: 16 down

Husband’s Rating: 5 out of 5

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Serves 2 to 3

Ingredients

2 chicken cutlets

1/2 c. flour

1/2 Tbsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 & 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 c. uncooked orzo

Lemon Thyme Cream Sauce (see recipe below)

Cook

Preheat oven to 350F.

Boil orzo in salted water according to package directions and drain.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Mix flour, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning in a shallow dish.

Dredge chicken in the mixture, shaking off any excess.

Cook chicken cutlets until golden brown and crisp, about 1 to 2 minutes.